OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "South of good" by Randall Reneau.]

Randall Reneau has written something unlike I have ever read in his most recent crime novel South of Good. Reneau is no stranger to well-written books. Some of his pieces have turned into award-winning novels. South of Good is a contender to be another award winner.

Hardin Steel, also known as "Stainless" by old friends, is the Sheriff of Cameron County, located near the Mexico - Texas border. Sheriff Steel is no stranger to drug busts, but things quickly head south when his buddy Wes bites off more than he can chew. Against their better judgment, they find themselves pursuing a major drug lord. From that point on the reader is always left guessing whether a scheme is going to work out, who is on what side, and whether Wes and Stainless are ever going to be free from worry.

My opinion of this book was all over the place as I read. In the beginning it seemed a bit slow and boring. As the plot thickened, I became more intrigued, but still wasn't impressed. About halfway through I can say I was honestly enjoying the book. By the end I was hooked! As a fan of CMTS novels, I like to predict where things are going to go. Reneau constantly changes the game, so the reader has no idea how things are going to turn out. Hardin is one crazy Sheriff with crazy schemes to try to get out of trouble. The reader never knows if plans are going to work in his favor or not. The ending is completely unpredictable!

Reneau uses a mixture of first and third person writing. He offers insight to what is going on with other characters "behind the scenes" as the bad guys and the good guys are plotting against each other.

I would suggest some reformatting of paragraph spacing. Sometimes larger spaces indicate the passage of time. Other times large spaces indicate a change of setting or character. Sometimes they mean nothing significant at all. I would also suggest justifying paragraphs so things fit better on the pages.

I noted two major typographical errors while reading when an incorrect word was used (things -> think, head -> heard). Aside from those, I didn't notice any errors as I read. I would expect this high level of precision from an award-winning author.

Overall, South of Good by Randall Reneau has earned 4 out of 4 stars for the amazing plot twists and exceptional writing. This book will definitely keep you on your toes!

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South of good
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Great review! I am glad you enjoyed the book.

Good review, rachel_jacks. It`s always pleasurable to read a good book.

Sounds like a good book with some interesting characters.

Nice, thoughtful review. I like the way you described your increasing level of interest in the story.

Great review... this doesn't sound like my kind of book (per the genre and general subject matter), and it sounds like a hard one to rate as well! This definitely gave me a good feel for the book's strengths and weaknesses. It sounds like the author has a unique and creative mind that is definitely being put to good use!

The cover caught my attention (because I'm from Texas), but this isn't really my type of book. Glad you enjoyed it so much though! And Congratulations to the author for earning 4 stars!

Great review! Your first paragraph certainly created some high expectations. It sounds really interesting, especially given how much your opinion changed as the story went along.

This isn't the first time I have read a book that started off slow, but picked up later. I'm an action/suspense driven reader, so the day-to-day stuff tends to bore me. To me, the first chapter to capture your interest and make you want to read more. This book didn't grab my interest at the start, but my interest increased as Reneau added more plot twists and excitement. It was definitely worth pushing through the rough start to finish the book!

Great review, rachel_jacks! I don't usually pick up a book like this, but I love a book with interesting characters where you just can't predict what will happen next!

These characters have to be the luckiest S.O.B.'s EVER! It kind of reminds me of the guys on Breaking Bad, where in reality they made so many mistakes and such that they clearly would have been caught sooner, but because that wouldn't be at all interesting they managed to get away with everything!

In this book, most of their endeavors should probably turn out badly, but go over pretty well (though usually not exactly as planned). Stainless is such a schemer! Every time he faces a problem he comes up with some new and unexpected solution to that problem. This is what leads to so many twists and turns in the story.

That sounds awesome. I love a tricksy main character.

Rachel: thank you for the very good and fair review of my book (south of good)! I corrected the two errors (wrong word spelled right) and republished (Amazon & Kindle). Editing is the toughest part of being an indie author. I've used several different editors, but recently hired a gal I think is a notch above.

I know it can definitely be tough to edit your own work! Your brain already knows what you want it to say, so it's easy to miss the errors. I have reviewed books with worse editing that actually credited an editor! Hopefully the new girl works out well with you. Thank you for sharing your book with me!

Great review! I loved reading South of Good. Reneau creates interesting reads.